


Sanctions

by Tarlan



Category: Eureka
Genre: Angst, Canon Het Relationship, Community: smallfandomfest, Community: trope_bingo, Friends With Benefits, M/M, Post Finale, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-04
Updated: 2013-07-04
Packaged: 2017-12-17 16:59:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/869861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a explosion rocks Global, Jack discovers a secret Allison has hidden from all of them, and it sets in motion events that will change Jack's life.<br/><b>Note:</b> major character death is not Jack or Nathan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sanctions

**Author's Note:**

> Written for both:  
>  **smallfandomfest** FEST13: prompt _Jack never expected to find Nathan hidden away, locked up in the bowels of Global Dynamics_ , and  
>  **trope_bingo** prompt _friends to lovers / friends with benefits_  
>  Many thanks to **Aqualegia** for being such a great sounding board for my ideas :)

Jenna stood on tiptoes to lean over the cot to stare at her newborn baby half-brother. As Jack watched, she scrunched up her face in a look of near-disdain that reminded him so much of her biological father that he felt a pang of profound loss. It had taken watching Nathan dissolve into a billion shards of light and swirl away in an unseen breeze for him to realize that he'd actually started to like Stark after he got fired as head of Global Dynamics.

He thought back fondly to the Fargo in a bubble incident, recalling how well they had worked together even if Nathan had refused to admit it at the time. Then, after working their way through Global to save Allison and Kevin during the lock down, they'd become begrudging friends, especially after Jack bowed out of their alpha contest over Allison. He could see that she still loved Nathan and, in the end, her happiness had meant more to him than his own. It hadn't stopped him from trying to change her mind on her wedding day during one of the time loops but, in hindsight, he realized that had been more out of desperation to see if it ended the loops, just in case Lexi was right about it all being about him. That was when he'd realized that he was infatuated rather than in love with her, yet they had ended up together eventually because Jack was a realist.

Fairy tales of love and romance were for the young and impressionable, and soon gave way to the sad realities of life. He'd learned that lesson the hard way from a broken marriage with Abby. Instead, what he had found with Allison was companionship that assuaged the loneliness and left both of them... content. Maybe there weren't any sparks between them, but the truth was that she had been in love with Nathan and not him. The bitter irony was that Jack hadn't realized until he watched Nathan die that he'd been a little in love with him too towards the end, and wasn't that the kicker.

"He looks like E.T."

Jack grinned at Jenna because, at an hour old, most newborn babies looked like mini-Yodas or E.T. as far as he was concerned, though that still didn't stop his son being one of the most beautiful sights he'd ever seen. He'd felt that same way about Zoe and Jenna too.

"He won't look so squashed in a few days."

"Why was he squashed?" Jenna asked.

"Uh..." Jack looked around wildly, hoping there was someone around who could answer that because he really didn't want to get into the whole 'where do babies come from' routine with Jenna. That was embarrassing enough the first time round with Zoe, who'd been a precocious five-year-old who seemed to take great delight in making him squirm from the earliest age... and Jenna was barely three. "Maybe you should ask mommy that one."

"Okay."

He heaved a sigh of relief only to startle when she darted off, heading back towards the private room where Allison was now resting while little Michael Henry Carter slept on peacefully in his cot; Jack caught up quickly, pulling her up into his arms before she could disturb Allison.

"Mommy's sleeping right now. Let's ask her tomorrow."

He was relieved when he saw Zoe return from the cafeteria downstairs with Kevin, and he handed a squirming Jenna over to her.

"You going to stay here a little longer, dad?"

"Yeah, I thought I'd..." He trailed off with a rueful, half-shrug, unable to resist looking back at his newborn son.

Zoe smiled indulgently and Jack watched as she and Kevin took one last look at their new half-brother before Zoe turned back to kiss Jack on the cheek gently.

"He's beautiful, dad. We'll head home and put Jenna to bed."

"Thanks, Zoe."

Jack settled down into a chair and stared through the transparent hospital cot at the tiny newborn. He wasn't sure why Allison had insisted on the baby being removed from the room while she slept, but she'd been the same way with Jenna. Still, he couldn't begrudge her wanting at least one last decent night's sleep before taking Michael home tomorrow. If he had any sense, he'd be taking advantage of a last night of uninterrupted sleep too but he was still caught up in the awe of this tiny new life.

His son.

It was just after four in the morning when he was jolted from a light sleep by the floor shaking beneath his feet. The klaxon sounded - slightly muted in the infirmary for obvious reasons - but it was still enough to set Michael off crying. Torn between protecting his son and wife, and his duty as Sheriff, Jack moved into the corridor and grabbed at the first person hurrying past.

"What's going on?"

"You know as much as I do, Sheriff." 

The male nurse shook off his hand and raced into a room further along. Jack knew he needed more information before he took any action but he was damned if he was going to leave Michael all alone in his cot. Quickly picking up the pitifully wailing infant, Jack carried him along the corridor to where Allison was unlikely to still be sleeping. True to form she was already sitting up and issuing orders to the medical staff. She frowned when she saw Jack standing on the threshold holding their son.

"Jack, I don't have time to discuss any of this with you right now... or deal with a crying baby."

Jack blinked in surprise at her words. "Allison?"

He took a step back as one of the medical staff firmly pushed him to one side before moving to help Allison stand. She barely even looked in his direction as she brushed past him, but the expression on her face filled him with concern.

Guilt without regret.

He knew that look all too well, having seen it written across the faces of countless felons during his time in law enforcement and more especially in the U.S. Marshals.

"What have you done, Allison?"

She glanced over her shoulder and her dark eyes flashed. "What I had to do. Leave it alone, Jack."

She was gone before he could push her further, and the fear clawing at his gut made him swallow down hard. In his arms, their son was still crying feebly and he forced himself to calm down for Michael's sake, aware that kids picked up vibes from their parents; babies especially. Gently, he rocked the tiny boy before unbuttoning his uniform shirt and placing the baby inside, snuggling Michael up against his chest. He used to do something similar with Zoe when she was tiny, though using a blanket to snuggle her in close, shutting out the world so all she felt was the warmth of his body and all she heard was the rhythm of his heartbeat. It had worked then, and it seemed to be working now.

He followed after Allison, cursing when she stepped inside an elevator that was heading down, once more torn between following or leaving.

Another small explosion rocked the building, making the decision for him. He had a newborn baby to protect so he headed for the exit along with a few others still at Global this late - or early, depending on how he looked at it. It brought back memories of being called into Global in the middle of the night, hearing Stark's voice when he complained about the ungodly hour.

'Science never sleeps, Carter.'

Obviously, someone should have been asleep rather than playing around with some dangerous science'y stuff, he thought.

"Henry!"

"Jack!" Henry came straight over, having just arrived, and he frowned as he looked at the bulge of Jack's uniform shirt. Jack peeled back the shirt and saw Henry's concerned eyes soften.

"What's going on, Henry?"

Henry looked up. "I have no idea... yet." He moved past Jack, calling back over his shoulder. "Get my Godson to safety, Jack."

At that moment, Jack spotted Doctor Suenos leaving and made a decision. "Henry, wait!" He called out again, "Doctor Suenos." Suenos looked a little shocked as Jack handed over the newborn. "Please take him to my daughter," Jack pleaded and Suenos nodded. He watched Suenos rush away for a second before running after Henry, managing to slide between the closing doors of the elevator.

"Where are we headed?"

"The initial explosion occurred in Section 10."

"Ten? I thought there was only eight sections."

Henry pursed his lips. "And I thought there was only nine."

It took a while but the doors opened eventually into what had to be the deepest level of Global Dynamics. Not taking the biosphere into account, it occurred to Jack that he had been almost this deep before with Nathan when they went to rescue Allison and Kevin but he'd assumed that there was nothing beyond the walls of the silo holding the Director's office that they had climbed down. Except that had happened in an alternate universe, and he often forgot to take that into consideration.

"What are you doing here?" Jack turned sharply upon hearing Allison's voice. "Neither of you has authorization for this level."

Henry looked taken aback as he was Grant's appointed head of Global Dynamics. As far as Jack was concerned Henry had permission to go anywhere he damn well pleased within this facility.

"What's down here, Allison?" Jack asked, noting the uneasy shift of her eyes and guilty demeanor. "What are you hiding?"

"You need to return to the surface immediately," she ordered.

"Allison?"

He saw her eyes skitter to the left and strode in that direction, ignoring her calls for him to stop and shaking off the hand of the guard who tried to obey her order to make him stop. Reaching a large window overlooking a laboratory, Jack froze in shock when he saw a man on his knees, head bent low, being held in that position by two unfamiliar security guards. He recognized their prisoner immediately, despite the dark curls that hid the man's face from view.

"Nathan?"

Allison grabbed at Jack's arm and tried to pull him away but his feet were firmly rooted and he was far heavier and stronger than her. All she managed to do was twist his torso a little but his eyes remained firmly glued upon Nathan Stark's bowed figure. He turned his head slowly to meet her eyes, seeing her anger giving way to that same echo of guilt with no regrets, and in that moment he knew she had known Nathan was down here all along.

"Allison?"

"I stayed silent for us, Jack. For Kevin and Jenna, for Jo and Henry and Fargo. I had to keep us all safe."

"I don't understand."

"This is _our_ Nathan," she whispered harshly. "He wasn't deleted from the time stream. He was moved into this one ahead of us. They locked him up because they saw him as a temporal risk, wanting to limit his interactions with the rest of this time line in case he altered it... or destroyed it by his actions. I _had_ to pretend I was the other Allison Blake, or risk all of us ending up in here too. Don't you see?"

"No." 

He shook his head, confused, because the Allison he _thought_ he knew would never abandon anyone like this, and especially not the man she had supposedly been in love with. Yet it explained why she had kept stringing him along for such a long time, refusing to name a wedding date or even tell her family that they were together.

"No. Maybe at first but this... this is _so_ wrong, Allison."

She turned away from him. "Henry, you of all people should understand why I--"

"No." Jack blinked because he had almost forgotten that Henry was with them. He realized Henry was standing just a foot away, staring down with shock into the laboratory below at the man he had once quietly admitted to Jack of thinking of as more than just a favored student and friend, but also as a surrogate son. Henry turned accusing eyes on Allison. "No. I don't understand how you could do such a thing to someone you once professed to love."

"Jack," she pleaded softly. "I had to protect Kevin and Jenna."

Jack shook his head. "No. _They_ were never in any danger." He tightened his lips for a moment. "Did Fargo know?"

She shook her head. "No. Plausible denial. I couldn't risk him telling you... or Henry."

Jack nodded, believing her because he couldn't equate the young man who had collapsed in shock and cried that day in that Time laboratory with the same person who could lock away his mentor in the modern equivalent of a dungeon deep inside of Global Dynamics. Fargo had admired and respected Nathan too much.

Henry strode towards the stairs leading to the laboratory door in the level below, and Jack followed.

"Let him go," Henry ordered, and Jack saw the guards hesitate before doing as ordered. Jack raced forward, dropping to his knees as Nathan began to topple, and caught him. The shock of touching Nathan, of feeling warm flesh beneath his hands after all the nightmares that had plagued him, culminating in the hallucination over a year back, almost overwhelmed Jack. He watched as Nathan raised his head, looking a little doped as if he had been drugged. Under the circumstances, Jack knew that might actually be the case. Recognition filled the dulled eyes.

"Jack?"

"Yeah." His voice broke, and he cleared his throat.

"Jack," Nathan whispered again, and Jack felt his heart breaking as he saw the stirring of hope add a spark of life to Nathan's eyes.

"Yeah. I've got you."

"Jack?" He glanced across at Henry. "Will you take Nathan out of here, please?"

Jack stole a look at Allison, torn between wanting to protect the mother of his newborn son, and wanting to get as far away as possible from her at the same time.

"Jack. Please," Henry begged softly, making his decision for him. Perhaps it was best this way, because he needed time to work through this before he said something to Allison that he might later regret.

Nodding, Jack pushed to his feet and drew Nathan up with him. He brushed off the offer of assistance from one of the guards and let Nathan lean heavily on him, catching Allison's closed expression as he passed her. He thought he saw a spark of regret but had a feeling it was more for being caught than for what she had done to Nathan, and a deep part of him wasn't sure if he could ever forgive her for that.

****

Nathan stared up at the slowly lightening sky. He hadn't seen the outside of Global Dynamics since that fateful day when he manually synced the clock to set time back on a straight path. He could remember everything around him dissolving, though mostly he recalled seeing Jack disappear in a swirling mass of light particles as if beamed up by one of those Science Fiction TV show transporters.

When the world came back into focus again, Jack was gone, and standing in his place was Warren King with Allison a few steps behind him. But it was not the Allison Blake who had planned to marry him that day. Of course King saw it as the perfect opportunity to knock Nathan out of the picture, especially as the Nathan Stark from that time line had come too close to proving that King was the one stealing Global Dynamics technology and selling it to the highest bidder. This Allison had gone along with King's theory that his existence could destabilize time completely if he was allowed to go free. Something to do with Henry going back in time to save Kim and almost causing the end of the universe before Jack stopped him. Pleading with her had got him nowhere because this Allison hated her ex-husband. 

All this Allison had wanted from him was a child, and in this time line she had at least already got what she wished for.

King could have had him killed. Instead, he had set Nathan to work on theoretical science problems, analyzing the data from the Big Bang experiment several months earlier, but a gilded cage was still a cage. In the months that followed Nathan proved beyond a shadow of doubt that his presence in the time line would not affect it adversely but Allison refused to listen.

There was a time in his life when being left alone to uncover the building blocks of the universe would have been a dream come true but those few moments of watching his whole world disappear had given him a clarity he had never possessed before. All he could focus on in those last seconds of his existence in his original time line was the incredible blue of Jack's eyes, and the despair and loss so keenly written in them.

It was one heck of a time to realize that he was remarrying Allison not out of love for her but purely because he didn't want to lose Jack to her.

Over the years that followed he dreamed about Jack, missing him more than he could have ever imagined. He had wondered what Jack was doing now. He had wondered if he was even still in Eureka as Thorne had seen Jack as a threat for some inexplicable reason that Nathan had been determined to uncover, and General Mansfield had always hated that Jack was non-military and therefore not under his command. Sometimes he had dreamed of holding him, and kissing him, waking up hard and desperate for Jack's touch.

One thing for certain was that Jack had no idea he was down here because the Jack he knew was not capable of leaving another person wrongfully imprisoned, even if that person was a rival or a pain in his ass.

Within a year, something had changed. Warren King had been caught stealing secrets and replaced with Fargo, of all people, though Nathan never got an opportunity to speak to his former assistant. Plausible denial, Allison had called it. She had visited only twice in that entire first year, to perform the necessary physicals, but then came the day when he saw her almost stumble when she caught sight of him, as if she had never expected to see his face.

"Allison?"

"Oh my God... Nathan."

She reached for him but then pulled herself together rapidly, keeping her touches professional as she gave him the regular six-monthly physical that King had demanded; it took him until her next visit to figure out what was different about her.

"Allison? You're **my** Allison."

Her eyes had gone wide with fear and she glanced around to make certain no one had overheard him.

"What happened?"

He listened to her brief explanation about Founder's Day, with Kevin activating Grant's time machine and sending them back into the 1940s. She told him how everything had been different when they got back to what they thought was their own time.

"Allison. You have to convince them to let me go. I can prove that none of this will affect the time line-"

"Do you think that even matters?" she interrupted angrily. "They will lock all of us up down here, and I'll never see my children again." She backed away. "I'm sorry, Nathan. I loved you, but I have to put my children first."

"Allison?" The guards, who had kept their distance, stepped forward menacingly and grabbed him when he tried to go after Allison. He yelled after her but she never turned back.

After that incident, there had been days when Nathan wished they had simply killed him outright. The gild on his cage had lost all its shine now, but he was never allowed anything that he could use to make his escape. His access to research material was through a computer sealed into the wall that was disconnected from the network. He had no means of sending out a message, but over the years he had slowly acquired the components for building a small explosive device that he could use to break the seal on his cage. It was only supposed to be a small explosion, just enough to destroy the lock on the six-inch door sealing him deep inside Global. He hadn't overestimated that part of it but rather he hadn't been able to account for all the unknown variables, such as a slow leak of a highly flammable gas from a nearby storage area.

The same six inches of door and even deeper layers of concrete had saved him from the worst of the explosion that had likely rocked the whole structure of the facility. It had certainly drawn attention to him, though he had been surprised to see Allison arrive in the observation room wearing an infirmary dressing gown. The guards had subdued him quickly, and his knees still ached from where they had roughly shoved him down onto the debris-riddled floor while Allison injected a sedative into his neck.

For the first time in years he heard another familiar voice.

"Let him go."

Henry. When he looked up into the eyes of the man preventing him from failing onto his face, he was shocked to realize it wasn't Henry holding him.

Jack.... and not just any Jack. This was _his_ Jack with those amazing blue eyes filled with shock and disbelief and horror... and something else like joy.

Now he was sitting on a bench watching the sun rise, and leaning against Jack's strong body as the lethargy from the drugs Allison had administered diminished. He could feel Jack's arm around his shoulder while his own arm was slung low around Jack's waist, fingers rubbing the coarse material of Jack's uniform shirt but feeling the warmth of his skin seeping through the material from beneath.

His Jack.

He let his head drop onto Jack's shoulder, too tired from the years of solitude to try to maintain any aloofness with this man. He had wanted Jack for too long to deny himself this moment of closeness. It should have surprised him that Jack allowed it, but then Jack had always been tactile and far less socially awkward than he. He didn't give off _don't touch me_ vibes. That approachability, the sensitivity, and that ready smile had endeared him to more than half the town where Nathan had always striven for the opposite - demanding respect.

"If I'd known, Nathan. I would... _never_ have left you there," Jack stated softly.

"I know." 

Academically, others might mock Jack, but when the shit hit the fan, Nathan knew Jack was the one they all turned to and hid behind because they knew he'd do everything in his power to protect them - even with his own life if necessary. If he'd had even the slightest suspicion that Nathan was down there, then he would have been tenacious in his pursuit of answers, and in righting an injustice.

"No one knew. Not Fargo or Henry. Plausible denial," Jack murmured. "That's what Allison said." Nathan could feel him shaking his head, still filled with disbelief. "I just don't understand how..." he trailed off, unable to even vocalize how he felt. "She's my _wife_. Our son is barely seven hours old."

Glancing down, Nathan saw the wedding band on Jack's finger, and he felt numb from the knowledge that Jack had married Allison and together they had started a new family. He had lost Jack after all, and the bitterness welled up inside him. His lips tightened but he couldn't hold back the words.

"I loved her once, but now every cell in my body wants to make Allison pay for what she did to me. But how do I do that?" He pulled back so he could look at Jack. "How do I do that without hurting you too, Jack?"

Jack snorted and Nathan felt Jack's chest fill before he let out a sigh. "I feel so numb right now I'm not sure I could hurt any more than this." 

The shudder of another explosion deep beneath their feet had Jack's eyes widening in shock, and they stood, turning in time to see part of Global Dynamics collapse in on itself.

Shaking off the last of his lethargy, Nathan raced back towards the building with Jack. Together they began to usher the stragglers out of the building while moving deeper inside to check for anyone else. Nathan heard a familiar voice cry out for help and together they cleared the smaller debris on top of Henry before Nathan grabbed onto something he could use as leverage to lift the chunk of ceiling that was across Henry's leg. He put everything he had into it, muscles straining as Jack pulled Henry free, so glad he had kept himself fit while imprisoned.

He nearly dropped the whole chunk back down too early when he caught sight of a slim, well-manicured hand. A woman's hand, and knew it was...

"Allison," he breathed. 

By then Henry was clear and Nathan's strength was failing him so he had to let go. In that moment, all his anger and bitterness towards Allison fled, and he shoved his shoulder under the lever again, desperate to dislodge the debris and reach Allison. Jack was frantically pulling away smaller chunks of ceiling, fingers leaving bloodied prints from where the jagged cement tore the skin. With one final snarl and strain from the adrenaline surging through him, Nathan dislodged the main chunk leaving a clearer path to Allison, but he didn't need to be a medical doctor to know there was nothing anyone could do for her. His knees gave out and he collapsed to the debris littered ground as Jack cried out in loss, holding Allison tight in his arms.

****

Two weeks after rescuing Nathan, Jack was no closer to understanding why Allison had left Nathan imprisoned in Global. He could understand Warren King committing such a heinous act against Nathan because it turned out that the original Stark from that time line had evidence that proved King was committing treason. But not Allison. The very fact that she had not told anyone in the small group that had traveled with her from the 1940s spoke volumes. She had not even confided in Grant, who owned Global now, because Grant was just as horrified when Henry brought it to his attention. At least Grant had expedited Nathan's release and had promised him some form of compensation for the years of false imprisonment, and between them they hatched a good cover story to explain Nathan's return.

Jack's thoughts kept returning to Allison's words: "I stayed silent for us, Jack. For Kevin and Jenna, for Jo and Henry and Fargo. I had to keep us all safe."

Perhaps that might have been the case at first, when they were still concerned about sanctions - and her more than any of them - but Nathan had presented proof that this time line was stable, unlike the one where Henry tried to change the past by saving Kim. If anything, Nathan's math proved that it was the old time line that had been unstable, with the autistic version of Kevin, who had once been connected to the Artifact, sending them back in time to correct the damage and set the time line straight.

Why had she been so unwilling to believe Nathan and to help him? At the very least she could have confided in Henry or Grant or even Fargo or Zane if she had needed someone to go over Nathan's math. But Allison must have known that every one of them - including Jo and Fargo - would have done everything within their power to set Nathan free no matter the risk - because it was the right thing to do. It hurt more knowing that both Fargo and Henry had held the reins of Global Dynamics for most of Nathan's imprisonment so either one of them could have come up with some plausible reason for Nathan's seeming return from the dead. Instead she had kept the knowledge from everyone except a few select guards who were under the strictest of orders to say nothing about their prisoner to anyone.

Those guards had died alongside Allison so he couldn't even get answers from them.

He sighed as he set the bottle of milk down on the coffee table, and carefully rubbed Michael's back. Jack had ended up taking sole responsibility for all of the kids, including the baby, while Grant investigated the incident that had claimed four lives in total and injured several others - including Henry. Until the investigation was over, he couldn't even inform Allison's family, let alone bury his wife.

He knew Jenna was missing her mom and that she couldn't understand why Allison didn't come home. Kevin had become sullen and withdrawn too, and Jack had needed to deal with problems at school with him skipping lessons. He'd had to go through all that with Zoe but he hadn't had a newborn infant and a three-year-old dependent on him at the time.

Clean and now fed, he set Michael down in the cradle, and sank back down onto the couch, smiling when Jenna climbed up beside him. She'd taken to her baby brother and liked to help feed him.

"SARAH, can you tune in to Animal Planet?"

He felt a little guilty for setting her down in front of the TV but it had been a long day and Michael had woken him up several times last night. Plus the couch was not as comfortable as it looked. After two weeks of sleeping on it, his back was killing him, but he couldn't bring himself to sleep in _their_ bed, surrounded by everything that reminded him of Allison. Jack glanced towards the staircase. Something had to give, though, as he couldn't go on like this.

He needed closure but he wouldn't gain that until Global allowed him to bury Allison.

He pushed to his feet and climbed the stairs wearily. Jack tried the door and it opened easily, and he was almost surprised to find no sign of Allison inside. His last memory of this room was his near panic when Allison calmly told him to drive her to Global because the baby was coming. He had left the sheets mussed with the covers thrown on the floor, intending to clean up later. 

Later had never come.

The bed was made with clean sheets, and Allison's personal items were missing from the bedside table. A quick check into the small shower room attached to the bedroom, that he'd made Fargo install after Allison moved in, showed barely a trace of her in there either and when Jack opened the wardrobe, he noticed her clothes were missing too.

"SARAH?"

"Zoe, Jo and Grace Deacon felt it would be best if they removed Doctor Blake's possessions to storage. Zoe said she will help you go through everything when you are ready."

"Why didn't they ask me?"

"I'm sorry Jack, but I believed it was for the best too."

"SARAH...!" 

He scrubbed both hands through his hair and stared around the empty bedroom before sitting down heavily onto the freshly made bed. He'd taken Zoe to the airport earlier in the day so she could return to her studies and lectures at Harvard, and she'd lectured him again about sleeping on the couch. Grace had looked after Jenna and Michael in his absence but she hadn't mentioned a word about the bedroom. Though it did explain why Jo had kept him so busy the day before. He'd known something was up but never suspected it was the three of them plotting together.

He was halfway down the stairs when the door opened.

"I took the liberty of calling Doctor Stark over to assist you with the children now Zoe has gone back to Harvard."

"Jack?" Nathan stood just inside the door looking confused. "SARAH called and said you needed me here."

"SARAH!"

He was annoyed and yet Jack couldn't deny that he was glad to see Nathan. In the two weeks since Nathan's release he had met up with his former rival a few times so Nathan could see Kevin and get to know his daughter. Jenna smiled shyly at Nathan now, obviously torn between watching the baby elephant having a bath on Animal Planet, and her daddy's new friend, who liked to play puzzle games with her.

"What's going on, Jack?"

"Zoe's gone. She headed back to Harvard this morning." He gave an accusing glance upwards. "And SARAH decided I can't cope alone."

"She's gone back?" 

Nathan glanced around and Jack could see he was taking in the enormity of it, with Jack left as sole carer for not just his own baby but for Kevin and Jenna too. Jack felt the flush of embarrassment at the unmade covers spread over the couch where he was obviously sleeping, and the cradle placed a little further away as if Jack lived only in these few rooms. He started to tidy up the bed but Nathan placed a hand on his arm, stopping him.

"Fed the kids yet? And where's Kevin?"

Jack gaped for a moment, and then sighed, remembering that Kevin was supposed to come straight home after school because Jack had grounded him for skipping lessons. He pulled out his cell and called Kevin, grateful when he answered.

"Need you to come home, Kevin."

"I'm with my friends."

Jack smarted at the belligerent tone. "Yeah, but I need you here. Now." He ended the call before Kevin could answer back.

Jack slumped onto the couch next to Jenna. "So... what do you want to eat, Jenna? Looks like Nathan is cooking," he added snidely, gaining an eye roll before Nathan headed into the kitchen but, damnit, he was tired from dealing with everything and if Nathan wanted to help then Jack wasn't going to refuse the offer for once.

Kevin arrived home twenty minutes later, but the sullen expression turned to confusion when he saw Nathan.

"What's going on, Jack?" he asked.

"Eat first, talk later," Nathan called from the kitchen.

They sat at the table eating in silence, with Jenna on her booster seat managing to flick spaghetti sauce everywhere. At any other time Jack would have found it highly amusing, even though Allison had always frowned or got annoyed at the mess. Eventually, Kevin dropped his fork onto his cleared plate.

"Okay. So what's going on?"

Nathan laced his fingers. "I was going to ask you that, Kevin. Skipping school, not doing your homework."

Kevin stared at him for a moment before casting angry eyes on Jack. "It worked for Zoe."

"What? I-."

"You're not our dad, Jack. So you're going to send me and Jenna away to our grandparents."

It clicked then that Zoe had played up purely because she had wanted to be with him, and it had worked because they'd crashed in this small town and she'd ended up living here with him until she headed off to Harvard. It was obvious now that Kevin was hoping the same plan would have worked for him too. No doubt he'd already been thinking of ways to run away from his grandparents and either turn up at SARAH's door or force Jack to search for him and bring him home. He might even have taken Jenna with him when he ran away. It was a terrifying thought because every moment Zoe was missing had seemed like a lifetime for Jack, and it would have felt no different worrying about Kevin and Jenna.

"No! When I married your mom, you became my kids too. Zoe, you, Jenna and Michael. I'm not letting any of you go without a fight."

"And you'd lose because you're not our dad."

"But I am," Nathan stated, and both Jack and Kevin blinked, turning to him. "I checked all the paperwork last week. After I married your mother, I adopted you so I would be your legal guardian in case anything happened to your mom. And Jenna is my biological daughter, and your half-sister. I have a stronger case for claiming legal guardianship of her than Jack or your grandparents."

"Dad?"

Kevin's voice was so small as he stared at Nathan, surprising Jack because he'd never heard Kevin refer to Nathan as Dad before. Yet it shouldn't have been a surprise as Nathan was the only dad Kevin had known for a number of years before Allison walked out on him, accepting the post in Eureka and taking Kevin with her. Kevin had an excellent memory but the years spent apart must have made him doubt that he was still considered a son by Nathan.

Jack felt his own stomach twist though, because he couldn't bear the thought of fighting Nathan over the kids even if he'd had a legal leg to stand on. Allison had stolen not just Nathan's freedom but she had taken his children away from him at the same time, but it didn't make it any easier on Jack. He knew the best he could hope for was joint custody if he was really lucky, or visitation rights on the grounds that Kevin and Jenna were Michael's half-siblings.

Nathan carefully placed his utensils down and sighed. He leaned down a little to meet Kevin's eyes.

"Jack and I need to talk it through, but in the meantime, we both need you to help us with your sister and brother." His lips quirked up in a smile. "I don't expect you to change diapers... but loading the dishwasher, picking up after yourself, doing your homework, and getting off to school on time will go a long way to making all our lives easier."

"And what about you, dad?" Kevin asked.

"I'm moving in... For a while." Nathan looked across at Jack. "If that's okay with you, Jack."

"God, yes!" 

Jack couldn't help the feeling of relief because he hadn't been certain how he was going to cope all alone with three kids now that Zoe had gone back to Harvard. Plus this meant he could delay losing Kevin and Jenna just as little longer. As far as Jack was concerned, Jenna had only ever known him as her father, and even though Kevin had never called him dad, Jack knew how far Kevin was prepared to go to have him stick around. He might not be their biological father but he'd taken on the role willingly and loved all the kids equally.

Even if Nathan only stayed in the bunker long enough to give Jack a chance to get his life back in order and arrange the funeral, at least he knew Nathan had no plans to leave Eureka. From Henry, Jack knew Nathan had accepted a Director of Theoretical Research post at Global as a partial compensation for his years locked away and would be starting back next week. According to Henry it was fitting because Nathan had spent the last few years making huge leaps in that area by analyzing the data from that Big Bang experiment.

Feeling a little of the weight taken off his shoulders, Jack relaxed and smiled as Kevin eagerly gathered up all the plates to load into the dishwasher.

****

A week later, Global Dynamics finally released Allison's body, allowing Jack to make the necessary funeral arrangements.

The sun was shining almost obscenely considering the sadness of the event, and the skies were so clear and blue, reminding Nathan of the day he had almost remarried Allison. He sat beside Jack throughout the grave side service, keeping one comforting hand on Kevin and the other on Jack's forearm while Jack held Jenna tight on his knee. By mutual agreement, they had left Michael at the nursery. Allison's parents were surprisingly civil, accepting Nathan's claim on Kevin and Jenna as long as they would not be denied access to their grandchildren, but they had always liked and respected him because of his triple PhD and Nobel Laureate status.

When they asked where he had been for the past few years, he reeled out the cover story that Grant, Henry and Jack had concocted between them. Yet, even if they hadn't made up something to explain Nathan's disappearance and sudden reappearance, Nathan would have lied because he could see no gain in tarnishing their memory of their daughter.

They had little choice but to accept Jack's parental rights over Michael, though Nathan had a feeling they would have aggressively contested Jack trying to claim guardianship over Kevin and Jenna too. Allison's brother seemed to have no problems with Jack though, much to Nathan's surprise, and Nathan wondered if there was a story there.

After the grave side service, they all gathered in the assembly hall at Tesla High because there were too many people wanting to pay their respects to hold a wake at the bunker.

Vincent had outdone himself on the buffet, but he always seemed to do his greatest work when he was feeling emotional, and today was a hard day for anyone who had known Allison. Nathan was strangely unsurprised to see how many people offered comfort to Jack, some touching him lightly while others like Vincent and even Jo, hugged him tight. On the few times when Jack was left alone he looked lost, eyes searching through the crowd of mourners and only losing that haunted look when they latched onto Nathan.

In some ways it reminded him of that first Lise Meitner dance, held in this same hall all those years ago. Jack had seemed alone in the crowd on that occasion too, ending up talking to a dog. Admittedly, Einstein had a higher I.Q. than Jack but still, if Nathan hadn't felt so competitive with him over Allison, especially after the kiss, then he might have taken pity on him and kept him company.

Nathan headed over towards him, unsurprised that Jack would seek comfort from someone who had known Allison the same way as him, even though Nathan was still trying to work through his feelings of betrayal by her, along with his guilt. Perhaps that was something else they shared though, as Jack had felt equally betrayed by her actions, and equally guilty for leaving her behind that day.

Jack brightened up a little when Grace returned with the baby, smiling as he took his son into his arms. Moments later, Nathan hid a smile when he saw Allison's parents forced to ' _make nice_ ' with Jack just so they could have the pleasure of holding their new grandson for the first time, not realizing that Jack would never have denied them the chance to know Michael even if they had openly hated him. It would have just made things more awkward, that's all.

Eventually the hall emptied until there was only a few close friends left, who followed them back to the bunker. SARAH played some soft background music and poured drinks.

On the couch, Henry was holding his godson - even if it was in name only - and Grace was seated next to him, smiling brightly. He knew Henry's leg still pained him from where it had been trapped under the ceiling debris but Global Dynamics had cutting edge medical facilities so Nathan hoped to see Henry fully back on his feet and pain-free within a few more months. He still felt guilty though, aware that he had started the whole disaster that had led to Henry's injury and Allison's death, and yet no one possessing the facts had ever held him accountable. Not even Jack. Instead they placed the blame firmly on the shoulders of Warren King - and Allison - for putting Nathan in a position where he was forced to find a way to escape his imprisonment.

In truth, the damage caused by Nathan's explosion should have been minimal but the investigation had revealed structural irregularities from the time when everything had turned to gold and then began to disintegrate. Government-contracted engineers had assessed the building as structurally sound after that event but they had not looked close enough. Eventually something would have triggered the collapse of that part of the building. It was just plain bad luck that Nathan's explosion had been the catalyst.

On the other side of the room, Kevin was talking to Zane while a heavily pregnant Jo rolled her eyes at what was likely to be either 'science talk' or souping up of hoverboards. When he had last seen Zane, he had considered him an exceptionally bright kid who had a problem with authority. He'd hoped to be around to mentor him like Fargo, and shape him into a better scientist. Looking at him, he had turned out fine, and Nathan knew that was partially Jack's influence as well as Jo's. Impending fatherhood would likely calm him down even more.

Jenna was playing on the floor with Zoe, giggling as she completed a puzzle that most kids her age would find too difficult, making Nathan feel inordinately proud of his daughter. He noticed others smiling at the giggling sound. Kids had a way of lightening any occasion, he thought.

Jack was alone on the couch with his head fallen back, looking drained from the day's events, so Nathan sat down beside him. He felt rather than saw Jack roll his head to face him.

"I didn't get the chance to say thanks earlier... for being here today. After what Allison did to-."

Nathan cut Jack off. "I might not have been in love with her anymore, especially after... but I had loved her once, and she was the mother of my children, so you don't need to thank me, Jack." 

He didn't bother to mention that he would have been there for Jack - and for the kids - even if he had hated Allison with every fiber of his being after what she had done to him. They didn't say much more to each other for the rest of that evening. Eventually all the guests left and they fell back into the routine of getting the kids washed and changed for bed, and the house tidied. By mutual agreement, they pottered until Zoe took herself off to bed, sharing her old bedroom with Jenna.

Jack had already moved back to the master bedroom, and he paused partway up the stairs as Nathan pulled out the sofa bed that he had slept on for the past week. It was uncomfortable but Nathan was prepared to put up with a lot of discomfort for the chance to stay close to Jack and their kids.

"Good night, Nathan."

"Jack."

Nathan watched as Jack carried on up the stairs with slow, heavy footsteps. For his own part he felt a sense of closure, firmly deciding it was time to leave the past behind and to look to the future. He just hoped Jack and all their kids would be a big part of that future.

****

Life seemed to settle down into a new routine. One month became two, and then three. Saturday afternoons were spent playing in Copernicus Park with the kids and Jack, then stopping off at Café Diem for whatever they wanted for dinner. Evenings were spent just like this one, helping with homework, bathing Jenna and Michael, reading bedtime stories before collapsing onto the couch next to Jack to watch baseball or a movie or some documentary that had caught Nathan's attention. Jack never seemed to mind, pulling out a dog-eared book to read as soon as he lost interest.

Any residual rivalry between them had faded away, and at some point over the past months, they had become more than begrudging friends.

Even though the pull-out bed was killing his back, Nathan still couldn't bear the thought of leaving. All those years spent mostly alone should have made him want to shy away from company, and for the most part he felt uncomfortable in crowds, but he felt the opposite way about Jack and the kids. He craved their company. The best part of his day was when he had them around him, just like at this moment.

Nathan looked across from where he was helping Kevin with his homework, and he smiled indulgently as he watched Jack place Michael onto Jenna's lap so she could give Michael his bottle. He had missed having a family while he was locked away, and he loved watching Jack with _his_ daughter and Jack's son. Both Kevin and Jenna had grown beyond the baby stage by the time he came into their lives, but Nathan now knew what it was like to hold a baby and feed him his bottle. He had insisted on taking his share of Michael's late feeds, especially as he could choose his own working hours so it didn't matter if he was disturbed during the night. 

To ease his back, he had taken to sitting up and working through most of the night, enjoying the peace but feeling the warmth and security of his family close by. A quiet word with SARAH had made certain he was called for most of the night feeds so Jack could sleep. During the mornings, Nathan caught up on his own sleep by sliding into the still warm bed that Jack had vacated when he went to work, not wanting to admit that he slept better there because he was surrounded by Jack's scent in the pillows and sheets.

It all began to change between them on the day Jack came home after attending a call that took all night. Without thinking, Nathan had slipped into the bed earlier as usual, and he didn't realize Jack had come home to catch some sleep until he felt the mattress dip from the sudden additional weight.

"Jack. Sorry. I'll-."

"No. Just... Stay. I'm too tired to give a damn about anything right now.... and that couch is a back killer," he added, mumbling in to the pillow.

With that, Jack had fallen asleep with his head on the pillow next to Nathan's, and Nathan had spent the next ten minutes simply watching him sleep until he fell asleep beside him.

When Nathan awoke a few hours later, Jack was curled up against him with his head on his shoulder and his arm slung across his waist, and it felt so good that Nathan didn't want to move. He focused instead on the comfortable weight of Jack's body, and the warmth of skin on skin. Like him, Jack had left on only his boxers and Nathan could feel the edge of the warm cotton ticking his thigh where Jack was pressed close. Gently, he breathed in the sleep-warmed scent of Jack's skin and pressed a light kiss on the soft, slightly longer curls of dark blond hair.

Jack stirred, sighing softly, with the warmth of his breath ghosting across Nathan's chest. He felt the slight twitch of Jack's cock and shamelessly shifted against it, feeling it harden and lengthen. Jack moaned softly in approval, still mostly asleep but Nathan could see his pale eyelashes flutter as he began to surface. He knew the moment Jack had fully awoken, feeling a sudden tension in the body that had lain so heavy and relaxed against him moments earlier. Eyes widened and Nathan could guess at Jack's mortification, but he didn't want Jack to feel embarrassed or ashamed.

When Jack tried to slowly shift away, Nathan cupped his jaw and raised Jack's face, leaning in to press the lightest kiss against his lips. No pressure, no demands, just an open invitation that Jack could accept or refuse.

"Nathan?"

Nathan kissed him lightly again, seeing the confusion cloud with desire.

"No strings attached, Jack. It's been years since... Just friends helping each other out."

He kissed Jack lightly for a third time and this time Nathan felt him acquiesce, lips moving softly, parting beneath him; breath sighing into Nathan as Nathan slid his hand beneath the waistband of Jack's boxers and wrapped his hand around the hard cock. He felt a tentative touch as Jack reciprocated; felt the tug of his boxers being pulled down even as he stripped Jack, lips sliding apart until they were breathing raggedly into each other's necks as hands moved faster, drawing each of them to the edge. Surprisingly, Nathan felt himself fall over the edge first, lost in the rush of sensations for a moment and coming back to the soft words of encouragement and reassurance from Jack. When Jack started to pull away, Nathan pinned him down with his larger mass, and quickly coaxed Jack's release out of him, feeling the warm splatter of semen over his curled fingers while Jack almost sobbed in relief.

The clean-up was a little awkward until Nathan reeled Jack back in and kissed him gently.

Jack still seemed a little wary as he asked, "Just friends... with benefits?"

Nathan nodded, and Jack gave a soft almost shy smile before pulling up his boxers, clambering out of the bed and heading into the shower. Back on the bed, Nathan felt his heart still beating too fast, feeling better than he had in years and yet anxious all at the same time. He had wanted this for so long. He had dreamed about having Jack in his arms and in his bed, and the reality was even better than the fantasy. It was almost too good to be true and he was half afraid that it was all still just a dream, afraid that he would wake up to find himself locked in that small laboratory down in the bowels of Global Dynamics.

When Jack returned all fresh and clean from the shower, Nathan pulled back the covers, feeling the knot of tension ease as Jack slipped back into the bed beside him with only the slightest hesitation.

Friends with benefits.

For now it was enough but he hoped that, one day, Jack would want more.

****

Seven months had passed since Allison's death, and even though Nathan had given up sleeping on the uncomfortable couch many months ago and now shared the bed with him every night, this thing between them still felt so temporary, as if it could end at any time. To be truthful, Jack still wasn't exactly sure what this thing was between them. Occasionally he wondered if he was simply rebounding from losing Allison, and finding comfort with the one other person on the entire planet who had known her the same way as him. Yet he was also worried Nathan would decide one day that he couldn't compete with her ghost, or simply wanted to get on with his own life once more.

What surprised Jack the most was that he didn't want this arrangement to end. 

Until he had started this - thing - with Nathan, he'd never truly considered bedding another guy. There'd always been so many girls clamoring for his attention in his youth; wanting to be with the captain of the baseball team. After Angie's death and the end of his professional baseball dreams in the same tragic car crash, he hadn't wanted anyone for the longest time - until Abby. He'd remained faithful through fourteen years of marriage and continued wearing his wedding band for a further five months after they divorced, only taking it off after that first kiss with Allison.

Allison.

Nathan's ' _death_ ' had changed everything, making him realize that his infatuation with Allison had been wrapped up in his suppressed and therefore unexplored feelings for his rival for her affections - Nathan Stark. He huffed out a laugh quietly. Abby would have a field day if she ever found out as she'd often accused him of hiding behind his macho, all-American, blue-eyed, golden boy image. Her words, not his. Except, as far as she was concerned, everyone had latent homosexual feelings, so he'd never listened to most of her psychobabble. Part of him wished they were on friendlier terms as he would welcome her advice right now for, in hindsight, he realized much of the thrill of that first kiss with Allison had been from knowing Nathan was watching.

Jack yawned and settled back down in the bed next to Nathan, leaning up on one elbow so he could study the sleeping man. 

Nathan looked much the same way that Jack remembered him from when they had first met, with his beard neatly trimmed and his hair shorter, though still long enough for the dark curls to overhang his forehead and tease the nape of his neck. Jack loved playing with those silky curls. Yet it was there that the similarities between old and new Nathan Stark ended, for the only times he'd seen him in a 'power' suit in the past seven months was at Allison's funeral and when they attended Jo and Zane's wedding. The new Nathan seemed determined not to be the same man who had once dreamed mostly of world domination, and Jack wondered if it was the years imprisoned within Global that had knocked some of the power-crazy arrogance out of him.

Not all of it though, he thought, with Nathan still managing to scare his ' _minions_ ' with a single sharp look. Jack grinned at that thought.

"Jack? Everything okay?"

Jack's smile softened at the sleepy voice. "Yeah. Michael woke."

"Hmm!" Nathan turned fully onto his back. "Finally thought he was starting to sleep through."

"Yeah... not so much," Jack grinned and then sighed, finally lying back down still facing Nathan. He felt Nathan reach over and fumble for his hand, interlacing their fingers as he drew Jack's hand across his stomach. Jack felt the silkiness of sleep-warmed skin and the soft rise and fall as Nathan breathed in and out, slow but deep, still hovering on the edge of sleep.

Although they both called it _friends with benefits_ , Jack knew most people now thought of them as a couple. Many had frowned upon them at first, and on him in particular, giving him the impression that they felt he should be a grieving widower forever. Those people didn't matter though. Their close friends had accepted him and Nathan without question or rancor, and he was grateful for that as he valued their opinion of him.

"I can hear you thinking," Nathan mumbled sleepily before opening one eye to look over at Jack. "Makes me nervous. You might break something."

"Ha, ha."

Nathan sighed heavily and rolled onto his side to face Jack, still holding onto Jack's hand.

"Are we going to play twenty questions? Or are you going to tell me what's up?"

"I want more." 

Jack blinked because that wasn't what he thought he'd been thinking, or what he had intended to say, but now the words were out there, he realized they were true. At some point over the past few months, he had stopped grieving for Allison and had started looking towards a future - with Nathan. Except he had no idea how Nathan felt about any of this as it was something they had never discussed. As the silence lengthened, he started to feel sick inside at the thought of Nathan deciding that he didn't want the same as Jack. That he didn't want more.

"Okay."

Jack blinked again. "What?"

Nathan shrugged. "I said okay."

Jack cleared his throat. "Good."

The soft smile became that familiar and now well-loved smirk. "Took you long enough."

"Hey!"

He felt childishly outraged at the notion that Nathan had been waiting on him all this time, even if it was true, but before he could remonstrate further, Nathan tugged on his hand, reeling him in and passionately kissing away any remaining indignation. By the time Jack lay boneless next to Nathan, with a goofy, sated smile, and ripples of pleasure still tingling through him, he'd forgotten all about his minor outrage.

For a moment Jack thought of Allison.

He had loved her, and he always would, just as he still loved Abby. But he knew now that he really was ready to move on.

As Nathan rolled over and wrapped himself around Jack, snuggling in tight with a contented sigh, Jack grinned broadly.

They were both ready to move on.

END


End file.
